I answered what I knew, says Arul

(FMT) – 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy says he is seeking legal advice after newly appointed Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng called him “dishonest” following their meeting yesterday.

Saying it was unfair of Lim to publicly condemn him, Arul said he had cooperated fully and answered the questions posed to him.

“I was asked many questions, to which I answered truthfully and to the best of my recollection, but without the benefit of having any supporting documents with me at that moment,” he said in a statement issued in his personal capacity.

“I therefore answered all the questions as best I could, truthfully and to the best of my knowledge, based on my recollection of company records, my personal knowledge (or lack thereof), and my recollection of information provided by officers in the company.” 

Lim had accused Arul of skirting questions related to claims that the finance ministry had been bailing out the troubled firm.

But Arul said missing from Lim’s statement yesterday was how the questions were framed to him.

“The circumstances I was in and the context of my answers were conveniently left out, such that it produced a false impression and put me in a bad light,” he said.

“In the meantime, as I have done in the past, I commit to cooperating fully and to the best of my knowledge, with any ongoing or new investigations on 1MDB-related matters,” said the former investment banker.

Yesterday, Lim told reporters that Arul had pleaded ignorance about matters related to 1MDB’s investments as they were handled strictly by the company CFO.

“He was absolutely uncertain as to what the value of these ‘investments’ are or whether they even exist in the first place.

“It is completely unbelievable that a highly paid and ‘experienced’ investment banker can be so irresponsibly clueless as to not know whether RM9.8 billion worth of investments are even real.

“Arul’s response was utterly shocking and preposterous because prior to the change of government, he had toured the country preaching the financial viability of 1MDB and the soundness of its investments,” he said.